It was a tough summer since I was still weak from formaldehyde poisoning. I struggled to breathe and promised myself that if I survived, this summer would be devoted entirely to play. It’s surprisingly difficult to give yourself permission to play, so I used the excuse of getting into better physical shape by being active.

Early this summer I had an unpleasant experience nearly all children have. Apparently I was reminded of how children feel so that I might learn the skills necessary for playing.

I was dragged through a crowded wonderland surrounded by people much larger than me. My hand was clutched so hard it hurt, and I trotted to keep up. We passed stilt people 12 feet tall, gnomes and fairies and elves. But I didn’t have a chance to look at them or play with them.

“Don’t let go, or I’ll never find you,” I was told. There were wonderful smells and music, but I wasn’t allowed to explore them. There’s not a lot of difference between being a child and an elder when you live in a culture where all power rests in those between the ages of 30 and 60.

A tree-covered hillside not far from the Del Norte-Humboldt County line, will be the scene Aug. 27 of an unusual event.

President Nixon has arranged what must be termed an unusual birthday party for the former president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson.

Nixon will dedicate the Lady Bird Johnson Grove in the Redwood National Park. The dedication will be at the same location that Mrs. Johnson dedicated the national park last year.

An invocation will be delivered by Billy Graham and the public will be allowed to see the president at either Orick or at the airport.

Medal for war hero

Rich has the distinction of being a member of the last class to graduate from the old high school, which was located at 9th and H streets. Many people remember best the running backs, quarterbacks and pass receivers that make big plays everyone sees. Old coaches like myself like to remember those offensive linemen that made the big plays by the skill people possible.

Rich was one of those. He had the privilege of blocking, so that outstanding Warriors like Bill Sullivan, Drew Roberts, Dale Nickels and Danny Sousa could display their talents.

After graduation, Rich led a very interesting life. He first attended Santa Rosa Junior College for two years. After JC he came back to Crescent City and worked for his dad Buck Gurney at the Surf Cafe Bar and Restaurant. This business was one of those destroyed by the 1964 tsunami. It was later rebuilt and opened as the Tidal Wave Room.

He described how he and a couple of buddies set out from San Francisco “two summers after the summer of love” in a van they converted into a hippie-mobile. The trio held three of the 180,000 festival tickets that were pre-sold for $18 each when the event was planned for Wallkill, near Woodstock, New York.

But opposition by local residents resulted in a late change of venue. Festival organizers considered fencing off the hastily leased 600 acres of Max Yasgur’s dairy farm, but with bigger challenges to tackle, the “3 days of peace and love” became a free concert. By the time they got to Woodstock on August 15, 1969, Bateman and his friends were among a half-million concert-goers. The rest, as they say, is history.

Two things about Bateman's column struck a chord with me. The first was about his ticket. Bateman realized during the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Woodstock that his ticket might be valuable. But he couldn’t find it. I know the feeling. I lost my Beatles ticket before their 1964 Hollywood Bowl concert. I got to see the concert be­cause I convinced a sec­urity guard that if no one else showed up to sit there, the seat was mine.

When I started my freshman year in 1947, Len was a junior. When lightweight basketball practice started, he had already completed a full season in the program. It was a pleasure to have this class young man to look up to.

After two years as a lightweight he moved up to the varsity as a senior, where he joined Harry Trehearne, Dick Turner and Don Morgan as the Warriors had an exciting 8-7 winning season. The team was led by coach Brick Bralich, who was only here for the one year.

Len also took his athletic talents to the Warrior baseball field. In school he was involved in many student activities. During the first semester of his senior year he served as student body senior president. He served as editor of the  Crest Union, which was the school newspaper. In 1947 Leonard, along with his cousin Gordon Miller, was selected to attend the World Boy Scout Jamboree in France. In 1948 he was selected to attend Boys State in Sacramento.

In 1949, Leonard and his good friend John Fraser painted a 1931 Model A Ford bright yellow and took off cross country for New York.

Burglars entered the home of Sharyn D. McNeeley of Crescent City on July 31 during a short period the owners were away.

After returning to their home, they discovered that someone had entered the house through a window and had taken $5 in coins from their daughter’s piggy bank.

The Del Norte Sheriff’s Office reported that in addition to taking the money, a slice of pie was also taken. Deputies have obtained a description of an older model car that was seen leaving the area and are continuing their investigation   

Undersea Gardens

The opening of Undersea Gardens, which has been rescheduled twice, is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 13, according to Norma Saunders, the local manager.

The gardens, a live marine display with scheduled diving shows and demonstrations, has suffered setbacks of all kinds. The most recent delays were caused by water that was slow to clear and, for the past week, an inability to get sufficient fish and other undersea life to stock the garden. Weather conditions have hampered drag boats, Mrs. Saunders said.

That’s why it was so cool to open a parcel the other day and find an advance copy of a book so highly anticipated that The Triplicate has already written quite a bit about it. “A Rare Botanical Legacy: The Contributions of Ruby and Arthur Van Deventer” is no doubt destined for many a local coffee table.

The book celebrates the work of Ruby Van Deventer, a Smith River native who made a monumental contribution to California botany by trekking across the Klamath-Siskiyou region to catalogue some 4,000 species of plant life, and her husband Arthur, a talented self-taught artist who painted almost 500 extraordinary watercolors of Del Norte flora.

This is first and foremost a picture book, featuring well over a hundred of Arthur’s colorful, meticulously detailed portraits of some of this region’s mind-boggling assortment of rare wildflowers.

Assistant Editor Matthew Durkee wrote the story last year about how about 475 of the watercolors were found in the attic of the Van Deventers’ North Bank home two and a half years ago and ultimately preserved digitally with the help of the Del Norte Historical Society and the College of the Redwoods.

In the fall of 1992 my youngest son Dana was given a class writing assignment. He carefully copied a poem in the cursive penmanship of a 9-year-old.  After it was graded and returned to him, Dana tacked the poem to the wall next to his bed.

When I was in first grade in 1956 my best friends were twins. Janet, Roseann and I stayed close friends through grammar and high school. We saw the Beatles together. I smoked my first cigarette and drank my first Scotch with Janet and Roseann.

After we graduated, I went to San Francisco and the twins became USC Trojans (at the same time O.J. Simpson was running the football there). Janet and Roseann lived in a sorority while I moved into an apartment across from Golden Gate Park. We saw each other less and less. I attended their storybook weddings and they sent beautiful gifts when my twins were born.

Through all the years that passed, I sent Janet and Roseann each a birthday card every March. In 1992, when we were 42 years old, Roseann called to thank me for remembering her birthday for so many years. We reminisced about our childhood and I spontaneously invited her to visit and meet my family in Grants Pass. To my surprise, she came for a weekend. When she returned home she sent a thank-you note inviting us to her family’s condo on Catalina Island.